Adjustable cutting and marking die



May 17, 1949.- s. s. BOSTOCK El AL 2,470,135 I ADJUSTABLE -CUT-"KING AND MARKING DIE Filed Jan. 4, 1946 J52 fen Z0 72:

Godfrey Jfafford fiasfac/r I 7720/7705 Geo/ye S/ 7a/p/es .By Z M AZZZrneys Patented May 17, 1949 ETENT OFFICE Godfrey S. Bostock, Tixall, and Thomas G. Sharples, Staiford, England Application January 4, 1946, Serial No. 639,132 In Great Britain October 5, 1945 4 Claims.

This invention has reference to improvements relating to dies for operating on shoe upper blanks in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

It is Well known by those skilled in the manufacture of boots and shoes that when cutting out and ornamentally marking a blank from which the upper of a boot or shoe is to be produced the size of the particular boot or shoe being manufactured has to be taken into account.

With a view to overcoming the difiiculties arising from the requirement referred to above there has been proposed a cutting out or marking die in which the part of the die carrying the marker for the toe portion of an upper blank has been made adjustable.

This prior proposal however is subject to the disadvantage that provision is only made for adjustment of the marker for the toe portion and does not enable a range of upper blanks of varying sizes to be operated upon for complete marking and cutting out at a single operation.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improved die which incorporates means for adjusting the mounting for the marker for the toe portion of a shoe upper blank, adjustable mountings for the markers for the heel end of an upper blank, fixed mountings for the markers for the intermediate portions of an upper blank and a knife for cutting out the central portion of the blank so that a single die may be used to cover a range of upper blanks for shoes of varying sizes and which may be caused to operate on an upper blank so as to effect a complete cutting out and marking operation to be performed accurately at each stroke of a press.

The invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention as applied to a die for use with a cutting out and marking press of a kind well known in the boot and shoe industry.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan of the improved die,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 in Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows to said line.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows to said line and Figure 4 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale and partly in section of the means for facilitating the adjustment of the toe and counter markers.

According to the said embodiment of the invention the improved die incorporates a base plate 5 which is adapted to be slidden into engagement with the relevant platen of a press in known manner. This base plate 5 is provided with a central raised. platform 6 which is supported on the upper ends of posts to, which are fixed to the base plate 5 by means of bolts 61) which engage tapped holes in the said base plate 5. The platform 6 is provided with a plurality of tapped holes be which are complementary to holes drilled in the base 8a of a cutting out knife 8 so that the said knife 8 can be secured to the platform 6 by screws 9. By providing the platform 6 and the bases of a range of knives with holes some of which must be in register when a knife base is placed on the platform interchangeability and proper placement of the cutting-out knives 8 is ensured.

Secured to the upper surface of the base 811 is a rectangular resilient pad 8b which serves to facilitate the ejection of an upper blank after a cutting-out operation has been performed by the knife 8 and upon the upward stroke of the press.

In advance of the position to be occupied by the toe end of a cutting out knife 8 the base plate 5 is provided adjacent to each edge with upstanding undercut guides Ill within which is slidably mounted a plate H. Secured to the plate II by means of screw bolts Hb which engage tapped holes in the said plate H are posts Ila which serve to support a platform I2 upon the upper surface of which is mounted on springs 13 a plate i l upon which is fixed in known manner the marking device for the toe portion of an upper lank for example the design indicated by the chain line to. The motion of the spring supported plate M is guided by depending headed pins Mb the ends of the shanks of which are screwed into the plate M and the shanks of which work through holes in the platform 12. The slidable plate 5 l is pivotally connected adjacent its centre to one end of a link 15 the other end of which is pivotally connected to one end of a connecting link It the other end of which has a pin and slot connection with the shorter segmentally shaped arm Ha of an operating lever 11 which is pivotally mounted on the base place 5. This operating lever 51 has an outwardly projecting arm to which is secured leaf springs ilb carrying knife edges llc which co-operate with notches la in a grooved arcuate guide it, said notches I So being calibrated according to the accepted sizes of boots or shoes to be dealt with. The leaf springs l'lb are provided with domes lid for facilitating pinching of the springs I?!) when it is desired to free the knife edges l'lc from the notches 19a.

The base plate 5 is provided also at the heel end with undercut guides 2i! for a pair of slidable rigidly inter-connected plates 2| which support upon posts Zia a pair of platforms 22 which, in a similar manner to the platform 12, carry spring supported plates23, the posts 21a being secured to the slidable plates 2! by means of screw bolts 2 lb which engage tapped holes in the said plates 2 I.

The spring supported plates 23 are located on either side of the heel portion of the cutting-out knife 8 and are adapted to have secured on the upper surfaces thereof in known manner any markers which may be" required for the counters such for example as are indicated by the chain lines 23a.

The slidable plates 21 are adapted for simultaneous operation through links and iii and an operating lever i? with leaf springs ill) and knife edge lie and a notched and slotted arcuate guide 59 in a similar manner to that described in connection with the slidable plate ll associated with. the toe marker and as a consequence similar reference numerals employed for denoting the analogous parts in the illustrations of both operating devices.

Disposed on either side of the intermediate portions of the cutting-out knife 8 are platforms 24 which are supported on posts E ia which are secured to the base plate ii by screw bolts 2% so that the said platforms 2% are fixed relatively to the base plate 5. These platforms 2d carry integrally connected plates 25 upon the upper surfaces of which may be fixed in known manner any markers required forany ornamentation it may be required to provide on the sides of a boot or shoe upper, such for example as are indicated by the chain lines 25a. The plates 29 are spring mounted and guided in a similar manner to the plates Hi and 23. i

It will be appreciated that the improved die enables a complete cutting-out and marking operation to be performed accurately at each stroke of a press since it is only necessary initially to attach the required cutting-out blade 8 for the particular size of upper being worked upon and to adjust the position of the platforms carrying the toe and counter markers by engaging the knife edges i'lc of the respective operating levers I l with that one of the notches i to corresponding to the size of boot or shoe upper to be produced from the particular upper blanks upon which a cutting out and marking operation is to be performed when thepress is set up ready for use.

We claim:

1. A die plate for center cutting and marking shoe uppers comprising, in combination, a base, a center cutting die removably mounted on said base, said die extending horizontally and being shaped to cut out the center of a shoe upper, a resiliently mounted horizontally movable toe portion marker, said toe marker being located at one end of said center cutting die and movable longitudinally thereof, a pair of resiliently mounted counter markers, one of said counter markers being located at each side of the other end of said center cutting die and movable in unison longitudinally thereof, and means for independently moving said toe portion marker and said counter portion markers relative to said center cutting die for adjusting said markers relative to the center cutting die for the center cutting and marking of shoe uppers of various sizes.

2. A die plate for center cutting and marking shoe uppers comprising, in combination, a base,

4 a center cutting die removably mounted on said base, said die extending horizontally and being shaped to cut out the center of a shoe upper, a resiliently mounted horizontally movable toe portion marker, said toe marker being located at one end of saidcenter cutting die and movable longitudinally thereof, a pair of resiliently mounted counter markers, one of said counter markers being located at each side of the other end of said center cutting die and movable in unison longitudinally thereof, a pair of resiliently mounted center portion markers, one mounted at each side of the center portion of said center cutting die, and means for independently moving said toe portion marker and said counter portion markers relative to said center cutting die for adjusting said markers relative to the center cutting die for the center cutting and marking of shoe uppers of various sizes.

3. A die for operating on shoe upper blanks comprising, in combination, a base, a single resiliently mounted marker for the toe portion of an upper blank, means for adjusting said toe marker on the base, means for mounting on the base a knife for cutting out the central portion of a blank, separate resiliently mounted markers for the heel end of the blank located on either side of the knife adjacent to the heel end thereof, means for effecting the simultaneous adjustment of the said heel end markers, and resiliently mounted means located'on each side of the knife intermediate the toe and heel end markers whereby a single die can be used to effect a complete marking and center cutting out operation on blanks for shoes of varying sizes.

4. A die for operating on shoe upper blanks comprising, in combination, a base plate, a removable cutting out knife for the center of an upper blank mounted at the central portion of said base plate, longitudinal slideways mounted on the base plate and disposed at the toe and heel ends of the said base plate, plates slidably mounted in each pair of slideways, a resiliently mounted marking device carried by the slidable plate at the toe end of the base plate, resiliently mounted marking devices carried by the slidable plates at the heel end of the base plate and disposed one on either side of the cutting out knife adjacent to the heel end thereof, resiliently mounted relatively stationary marking devices located on either side of an intermediate portion of the cutting out knife, operating levers pivotally mounted on the base 1 plate and adapted to effect a sliding of the slidable plates, linkages connecting arms of the said I operating levers with the respective slidable/ plates and calibrated guides for facilitating the setting of the operating levers.

G. S. BOSTOCK. T. G. SHARPLES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file. of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 955,277 McFarland Apr. 19, 1910 1,861,807 Messmer Mar. 6, 1928 2,014,604 Wordworth Sept. 17, 1935 2,090,824 Altvater Aug. 24, 1937 2,124,591 Ryan July 25, 1938 2,183,038 Freeman Dec. 12, 1939 2,278,542 Freeman Apr. 7, 1942 

